I think an independent international assessment ought to be performed regarding compliance of quality of teaching of all specialties at Estonian universities to international standards. The same applies to assessing the quality of research and science. The results should be also published, this would perhaps put an end to several disputes and clarify the actual situation.
-Passions flare high about same specialties taught at various universities. Domestically, if serious research is involved, this would be justified by the various schools allowing for essential discussion. In order to remain internationally competitive, however, they should join forces. What do you say?
While generally speaking competition spells progress, then on a small market and with meagre resources, the opposite may be true – the competitors only weaken each other, the quality drops and the resources are wasted. In order to compete with the world outside, the strengths need to be combined; the universities need to cooperate and stop pretending to compete inside of Estonia. In universities, studies should be organised so that a certain specialty or curriculum or one very closely related is only taught at one university.
-It has also been said that some specialties should perhaps not be taught in Estonia at all – in the world, and in nearby neighbouring nations, good universities abound. At the same time, there are specialties and domains that a small nation needs to develop for itself, training new people. This is expensive but inevitable. What could be the specialties and domains the teaching of which could be terminated in Estonia?
Certain domains and activities must definitely be given up, especially where the demand is marginal and quality of teaching questionable. In cooperation with universities in neighbouring nations, however, even broader options for cooperation should be sought, meaning that certain specialties would be comprehensibly taught in Estonia as well, and neighbouring universities would direct students to us as well.